


from the ground up

by VolxdoSioda



Series: Whumptober 2018 (Complete) [13]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Competency, Day 13 - "stay", Gen, Separation Anxiety, Werewolf AU, Whumptober, forced shifter!Noctis, loss of home, non-shifter!Iris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 20:11:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16353467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: Noctis might not have any idea about how to go about being a wolf shifter, but hedoesknow he needs to take care of Iris until they can get back home. Which means getting his act together, and putting his nose to the grindstone.Now if only he could take care of the homesickness as easily as he could take care of the hunting.





	from the ground up

**Author's Note:**

> More werewolf au. Short because I'm sadly running out of time.

_Let it be shown for the record that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing._

Moving on four feet is different than moving on two feet, but Iris is crying. Iris is crying, and strong Gladio isn't around to take her tears and reassure her. Neither is wise Ignis, or kind Prompto. It's just Noctis. And Noctis is just... Noctis. He can't do the werewolf thing half as well as any of them because it's been  _forced_ on him, but he's trying because he knows if he and his wolf don't get on good terms, neither one of them will survive the coming days.

The Empire is hunting them, hunting Iris, and they're a thousand miles from home with no way of knowing when they're going to be back, if at all. Noctis has to stand in and be Iris' guardian, see her safe and happy. He might not be pack, but Gladio still trusts him. The pack trusts him. To do Iris any less would be an immense disservice to them all.

Even if he has precisely zero idea about how to go about doing that.

_Okay, maybe start by getting her attention? See if she needs to cry into my fur or something. Or wants a hug._

Girls do that, right? Hug dogs and cry into their fur when they're upset? Well, werewolf-risen girls anyhow?

Yeah, he officially has no idea what he's doing.

But he walks over to her, gently nudging her knee with his nose. When she looks up, her eyes are red-rimmed, and she looks absolutely miserable. He sits in front of her, and cocks his head in mimicry of a question.

She sniffles, swiping ineffectively at the tears with the back of a hand. "I miss them so much, Noct," she whispers. "Mom and Dad and Gladdy. I thought I'd be okay, after meeting Lady Lunafreya on the train. But." She puts a hand over her heart, clutches the fabric there tight. "I'm not a shifter, but it  _hurts so much,_ Noctis. And I don't know how to make it stop!"

Pack instincts, Noctis knows. Gladiolus had explained a little to him before - Iris might not have the shifter's gene, but she was still raised around a pack of werewolves. She's got the instincts, though not the body. And she's been away from her pack from something close to three months now. If she were a shifter, her wolf would be going mad trying to find a way back to it's family. As it is, it expresses itself as rage and sorrow and an inability to really  _roll_ with the punches.

And Noctis - the man who is supposed to be her guardian, isn't much better off than she. Stuck in a body he has no idea how to manage, dealing with a part of himself he kept locked away to avoid scandal all his life, to avoid becoming the "needy prince", and with precisely zero idea of where they are, where they're going, or how to get back home.

Life could be better, for certain. He can only imagine what it's like for Gladiolus and the others back in Insomnia. Assuming the Empire hasn't captured them and used them for experimentation like Verstael did to Noctis.

She sniffles again, utterly miserable, and Noctis decides  _you know what, fuck this,_ and shoves his nose under her chin, giving a soft little 'whuff' of encouragement. Thankfully she seems to have done this before, probably with Gladio, and wraps her arms around him, burying his face in his neck fur where it's thickest. He keeps his ears turning, listening for anything sneaking up on them in this vulnerable time, but there's nothing but the sound of Iris' crying. 

"Stay," Iris begs him at one point. "Please stay with me, Noctis."

Eventually, she cries herself out. She's sleepy by the end of it, and while it's not the most comfortable spot to sleep, Noctis knows she needs rest. So he carefully manuevers himself around her, curling up like he would if she were smaller, and puts his head on top of her shoulder, to watch for threats. Her head rests against his ribcage, rising and falling with each breath he takes. It takes nothing for her to fall asleep like that, the soothing lull of his breathing and heartbeat enough to do her in.

They pass the beginning of the fourth month like that, and Noctis resolves that if nothing else, he will learn all he needs to for Iris, so he can get her home, back to her family. He will live and survive this long enough to see that joyous smile on her face, and then he will bow out. Leave the Amicitia family in peace for good, because he's brought nothing but pain to them, and he doesn't need to bring more.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

It's a slow grind to 'getting better', but it does get better. 

Noctis quickly learns that hunting in the wolf form takes patience. A truly stupid amount of patience. The amount of times he seen Ignis or Gladio or even Prompto just take something down like it was nothing are too many to count. He'd thought it was a natural instinct.

But no, turns out its experience he's been witnessing, and the first few nights after Iris' breakdown, they end up eating fish. She smiles at him, pats him between the ears and says softly, "Don't worry about it, Noct. Gladdy took a bit to figure it out too. I'm just happy to have you here."

And if  _that_ doesn't light a fire under his tail. Because Iris is already hurting - she doesn't need his incompetence to drag her down.

So the next morning he goes out early, and finds a place in the brush to sit where it obscures his shape. And then he waits. And waits. And keeps waiting even as the sun starts to rise. He doesn't move even when the first shapes of deer start moving about in the patch of thicket, when they start nibbling the grass. He looks at them - really  _looks_ at them, and sees the way they move. He can tell which ones are older then the others, he realizes, and which ones are near their death. Slower than the others. 

But he doesn't want to come back to camp with stringy or bad meat - Iris needs as much as she can possibly get. So younger meat would be better. Which means going after the does, or going after the babies.

And given there's a cluster of babies wandering around the edges of the brush, towards where Noctis is hiding, that's the end of that argument.

The wolf in him is eager. It's hungry, and it wants to eat. But Noctis pushes it back, tells it  _no, we're not fucking this up, stay dammit,_ and holds his spot until two of the fawns stick their noses in the bush to graze.

One pulls back with a squeal as Noctis erupts out of the bush like a coiled spring, mouth opening wide, teeth bared.

The other is too slow. 

There's an onerous  _ **snap**_ ,and blood fills his mouth as his teeth crunch down over the fawn's vulnerable neck. It dies instantly, and the rest of the deer scatter. Noctis yanks himself the rest of the way out of the bush, breathing hard. It wasn't a tough hunt, but all his animal instincts have been roused now with that first taste of death, and he's aware of just how hungry his empty stomach is. He wants to eat the whole damn fawn and leave nothing for Iris.

But he knows given his size and hunger, there will be nothing left for her if he does that. So instead he tells the wolf  _Iris is Alpha,_ and shoves the hunger aside, hefting the carcass up and dragging it towards camp. In the background, he hears the call of a mother doe seeking a fawn that will never return, the bellow of the herd master's challenge to him. He ignores both, and keeps walking.

He has a pup of his own to keep fed.


End file.
